Gabrielle Giffords, Mark Kelly will release a book on gun control

The gun control debate is coming to a bookshelf near you.

After going to the President, Congress, and the press, former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is taking her fight for gun control to Americans with a new book set to hit shelves this June.

The staunch gun control advocate – and gun owner – is collaborating with her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, on “Enough: Our Fight to Keep America Safe from Gun Violence.”

“'Enough' was one of the first words Gabby said to me after we learned about the Newtown, Conn., massacre," Kelly said in a statement issued Tuesday by the book's publisher, Scribner. "As Second Amendment supporters and gun owners ourselves, we hope our book rouses the long-overdue conversation our country needs to make responsible changes to our gun laws so that no more precious lives are lost.”

The gun control debate is personal for Giffords. In 2011, she was shot in the head during an attack on a public meeting the lawmaker was holding with constituents in a Tucson mall in which six people were killed and 13 injured, including Giffords, who was left partly paralyzed with impaired vision and speech.

Giffords and her husband are active gun control advocates, having founded the pro-gun control group Americans for Responsible Solutions, which uses media ads and political campaigns to encourage lawmakers to pass greater gun controls.

“Enough” is based on an essay Giffords wrote for the New York Times last April in response to the school shootings in Newtown, Conn., that left 20 children and six teachers dead. In the essay, Giffords chastised the lawmakers who blocked gun legislation like expanded background checks and a ban on assault weapons.

Giffords also wrote a more recent essay for the Times in which she shared details about her recovery and vowed to continue fighting for gun control despite key measures failing to pass congress last year. 

"Our fight is a lot more like my rehab. Every day, we must wake up resolved and determined. We'll pay attention to the details; look for opportunities for progress, even when the pace is slow. Some progress may seem small, and we might wonder if the impact is enough, when the need is so urgent," she wrote.

"But every day we will recruit a few more allies, talk to a few more elected officials, convince a few more voters. Some days the steps will come easily; we'll feel the wind at our backs. Other times our knees will buckle. We'll tire of the burden. I know this feeling. But we'll persist.”

Giffords has one prior book, "Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope," which came out in November 2011.

Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent.